Refrigerating apparatus



No v.421, 1939. A-. A. kucHER l REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 12, 1936- 2 Sheets Shee 1 m m w 2 5 1. INVENTOR Ami/ 4 Nov. 21, 1939.. A. A. KUCH ER REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 12, 1936 2 sheets sheet 2 INVENTOR Patented Nov. 21, 1939 BEFRIGEBATING APPARATUS Andrew AsKucher, Dayton, Ohio Application November 12, 1936, Serial No. 110,494

I -12 Claims.

The present invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to the type of refrigerating apparatus in which the heat dissipator is disposed below 'the refrigerated storage cabinet.

One of the objects of the present invention is to utilize the heat dissipator of a refrigerating apparatus as the base for the refrigerated cabinet. I 1

Another object of the inventionis to forni the base of a refrigerated cabinet of parallelly disposed, vertically extending sheet meta sections and to hermetically join these parallriisections with one another so that the same 0 a heat dissipator of refrigerating apparatus.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a refrigerator of the type having an upper refrigerated compartment and a lower-machine compartment in which the'machine compartment wall, or walls, form the heat dlssipator of e the refrigerating apparatus.

be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred form of embodiment of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view ofa refrigerator embodying my improved refrigerating apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the base for the refrigerator cabinet which base is also utilized as the heat dissipator;

Fig. 3 is a side view, showing in section the refrigerator cabinet and the machine compart ment, the section being taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 4is a top plan view, on a considerably larger scale, iof the machine compartment, one side thereof being shown in section;

Fig. 5 is a rear view of the lower part of the refrigerator, part thereof being shown in section, such section being taken on line 6-5 of Fig. '3;

Fig. 6 is afragmentary sectional'view, on a larger scale, the section also being taken on line 55 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a sectional 'view taken on line 1-1 of I Fig. 6 but on a larger scale; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional-view of the upper part of the machine compartment and. the

lower part of the refrigerator cabinet, section being taken on line 3-3 of Fig.1,

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a refrigerator 20 including an upper insulatedcabinet 2! and walls, generally indicated at 22,

which form a lower machine compartment 23. The insulated cabinet 2| provides a refrigerated storage compartment 24 and in the specific embodiment, the heatabsorber 25 is disposed within compartment 24. A refrigerant circulator 26 is 5 carried within the lower machine compartment 23 and this circulator 26 withdraws the refrigerant'from the heat absorber by a pipe 21. The walls 22 of the machine compartment 23 are hollow, being formed of parallelly iiisposed, hori- 10 zontally extending sections of sheet metal which are joined with one another so that opposite sides of the walls are subjected to the cooling action of air and therefore form a heat dissipator. A pipe 28 conducts refrigerant from the circulator 26 to the walls wherein it is cooled and the cooled refrigerant is conducted to the heat absorber 25' by a pipe 29. The circulator 26 includes a pump and a motor for driving the same. The circulation of refrigerant is controlled by starting and 20 stopping of the motor. For this purpose there Other and further objects and advantages will is provided an automatic thermostatically operated switch 30, of the snap acting type, connected in the motor circuit for starting the motor when the temperature within the compartment rises to 5 apredetermined degree and stops the motor when the temperature within the compartment has been decreased to a predetermined value.

In the embodiment illustrated the refrigerate ing apparatus is of the compressor-condenser ex- 3n pander type wherein the heat absorber 25 is an evaporator, the circulator 26 is a hermeticallysealed motor-compressor unit, the walls 22 forming a condenser, and the pipe 291s of capillary diameter so as to form a restrictor for governing 35 the flow of refrigerant from the condenser to the evaporator.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, the refrigerator cabinet 2il includes a lining 32 having outwardly and forwardly turned flanges 33 40 and 34 at the front thereof. The outer covering or casing .35 of the cabinet-has inwardly and rearwardly extending flanges respectively 36 and 31. A wooden frame 39 is disposed at the front of the cabinet comprising four pieces of wood 5 which are substantially trapezoidal shapein cross section. The two horizontal pieces are shown. Breaker strips ll extend over the flanges 34 and 31 and are secured to the frame members as by screws whereby to clamp the frame mem- 50 bers 39 to the lining 32 and covering 35. Insulating material 42 surrounds the lining. This insulating material, is preferably of the package form and a brace 43, preferably of wood is disposed completely along the bottom at the back of lining 32 whereby the rear of the lining 32 is also supported by the covering 35. The open front of the compartment 45 formed by the lining 32 is closed by a door 48.

The walls 22 forming the machine compartment and the base for the cabinet 28 are preferably formed of sheet metal including two sections 48 and 49. These sections 48 and 49 are in the form of shells which interflt with one another and, being bent to the general form of a U, form the front and opposite side walls of the machine compartment. These shells 48 and 49 are hermetically joined as by welding with one another along the entire periphery thereof and the inner shell is provided with horizontally extending upper and lower beads 58 and 5| which form headers and the space between these headers is corrugated so as to provide beads 52 forming passages 53, interconnecting headers 58 and 5|. The material 55 between the corrugations 52 is hermetically joined as by welding with the outer section 48. The upper edges of the section 48 are turned inwardly to form side.

' flanges 51 and front flange 58 and the rear edge 59. Like flanges SI and flanges 62 and 63 are of section is turned inwardly to form flanges flanges and to form the U shape walls.

The flanges 51, 58 abut one another and flanges GI and 62 abut one another and the abutting edges are preferably welded with. one another at joints 15. This construction and welding is also carried out with respect to the flanges on the bottom of walls 22. The flange 58 at the front of the cabinet is provided with holes 12 which receive screws I3 and these screws extend through the covering 35 of the cabinet and into the lower wood frame 39. Preferably a rubber gasket 14 is disposed between the flanges 51, 58 and the covering 35. By securing the flange 58 to the cabinet 2|, the front end of the cabinet is securely held in place. The upper side flanges 51 and SI are each provided with a hole 15 for receiving a screw 11 which extends into the brace 43' of the cabinet 20. In this manner the upper end of the rear of the machine compartment is securely held in place with the cabinet. Angle iron braces 18 formed from sheet material .are secured at their lower ends to the lower flanges of wall 22 and at their upper ends they are secured by screws 19 to the wood brace 43. Thus the low rear ends of walls 22 are securely held in position. If desirable the, braces 18 may be welded to the lower fi nges 68 orifdesirable,

they-may be secure'dto t e flanges 68 by screws 88 which extend into feet 8| at the rear of the cabinet. Like feet may be suitably secured as by screws to the front of thecabinet. The rear and bottom of the machine compartment are open so that air can freely circulate within the compartment.

The motor compressor unit 26 is suspended in the machine compartment 23 from the bottom wall of the cabinet covering 35. This motor compressor unit 26 and the mounting therefor may cured to the flanges 65 and provide a condenser for a refrigerating appabe like that shown in my copending application Serial No. 95,091 filed August 10, 1936, in which the unit is resiliently mounted, some of the springs being shown at 82.. A discharge or suction pipe 21 is provided with a hair-pin loop 83 in the machine compartment and is connected at the bottom of the motor compressor unit 26. The refrigerant compressed by the unit 25 is conducted by the pipe 28 to the upper header 50 in the walls 22. This pipe is also formed with a hair-pin loop 84 and its outlet end is connected with the header 50 at the rear of the right hand side of machine compartment wall 22. The pipe 29 is connected with the header.5i on the opposite side wall of walls 22 and at the rear of the wall. The aforementioned loops 83 and 84 in pipes 21 and 28 are desirable because thewmotorcompressor unit vibrates slightly. Compressed refrigerant entering the header 50 will pass through said header and feed the individual spaces 53. The ambient air on the exterior of the walls 22 and the ambient air within the machine compartment 23 will take up heatfrom the v In order to provide a more stable base for shipping purposes, I have connected the rear bottom ends of the walls 22 with one another by an angle iron 85. 'This angle iron.maybe se- 58 by screws 86 or maybe welded thereto.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the double wall machine compartmentforms a rigid structureffor supporting the refrigerator cabinet 2|. These walls being hollow, form a relatively large heat dissipating surface exposed both on-- the outside and on the inside of the machine compartment to the ambient circulating air. By providing a combined refrigerator base and heat dissipator, I have materially reduced the number of parts which ordinarily constitute a refrigerator and consequently materially reduced the cost of manufacture.

While the form of embodiment of-the'present invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, :it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

I claim: j

1. In combination, a refrigerator cabinet; a base for supporting the cabinet, said base including interfltting sheet metal shells hermetically joined with one another at the peripheries thereof and-spaced at least partly between the peripheries to provide a condenser for a refrigerating apparatus. 4

2. In combination, a refrigerator having an Y uiper insulated compartment and walls supportterfitting sheet metal shells hermetically joined with one another at the peripheries thereof and spaced at least partly between the'peripheries to ratus.

3. In combination, a refrigerator cabinet, a base for supporting the cabinet, said base including sheet metal side and front walls, certain of said walls including parallel disposed hermetically joined sheet metal sections having portions spaced from one another to provide a condenser for a refrigerating apparatus. I

4. In combination, a refrigerator cabinet, means for circulating refrigerant disposed below the cabinet, a base for supporting the cabinet and for partly enclosing the means, said base including 'sheet metal side and front walls, certain of said walls including parallel disposed hermetically joined sheet metal sections having portions spaced from one another to provide a condenser for a refrigerating apparatus.

5. In combination, a refrigerator cabinet including an insulated compartment, a frame member disposed along the bottom of the refrigerator cabinet and adjacent one edge thereof; a base for tions having portions spaced from one another to provide a condenser for arefrigerating apparatus., n

6. In combination, a refrigerator cabinet including a lining forming a compartment and having a door opening in the front thereof, a covering for the lining spaced from the lining to provide an insulating space therebetween, a door opening frame in said space, a brace within the space between the covering and lining and disposed along the rear of the cabinet; a-base for supporting the refrigerator cabinet, said base forming the front and opposed side walls of a machine compartment, the .upper front side of the base being secured to the door frame and the upper ends of the rear of the side walls of the base being secured to said brace, at least one of said sides of said base including a plurality of parallel disposed and hermetically joined sheet metal sectionshaving portions spaced from one another to provide a condenser for a refrigerating apparatus.

'1. In combination, t refrigerator cabinet including a lining forming a compartment and having a door opening in the front 'thereof a coveringfoig the spaced from the liniz i to provide --an insulating space therebetween, a

door opening frame in said space. a brace within the space between the covering and lining and disposed along the rear of the cabinet; -a base for supporting the refrigerator cabinet, said base forming the front and opposed side walls of a machine compartment, the upper front side of the base being secured to the door frame and the upperends of the rear of the side walls of the base being secured to said brace, said base including interfltting sheet metal shells hermetically joined with one another at the peripheries thereof and spaced at least partly between the peripheries. to provide a condenser for a refrigerating apparatus.

8. In combination, a refrigerator cabinet; and a heat dissipator including hollow walls cooperating with one another to form a machine compartment supporting the cabinet, said compartment being open for the circulation of air within the compartment.

9. In combination, a refrigerator cabinet, and

sheet metal including parallel walls hermetically joined with one another at certain portions and spaced from one another at other portions to thereby provide a condenser for a refrigerating apparatus, said sheet metal providing a base for supporting the cabinet and forming a compartment for a refrigerator compressor.

10. In combination, a refrigerator cabinet, and sheet metal including adjacent parallel walls, one

of said walls being corrugated and hermetically joined with the other along the corrugations to thereby provide parallelly disposed refrigerant passes of a condenser for refrigerating apparatus,

said sheet metal providing a base for supporting the cabinet and forming a compartment for a refrigerator compressor.

11. In combination, a refrigerator cabinet, and sheets of metal in the form of interfltting shells, said shells being hermetically joined with one another at certain portions and spaced from one 'anotherat other portions to thereby provide a condenser for a refrigerating apparatus, said sheet metal providing a base for supporting the cabinet and forming a compartment for a refrigerator compressor.

12. In combination, a refrigerator cabinet, and sheet metal in the form of interflttingshells, one of said shells being corrugated and hermetically joined with the. other along the corrugations to thereby provide parallelly disposed refrigerant passages'of a condenser for refrigerating apparatus, said sheet metal providing a base for sup- D fora refrigerator compressor. a ,3 1 f i rting the cabinet and forming a compartment 

